


Hypothesis

by ticklishraspberries



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Platonic or Romatic: It's Up To You!, Tickle Fights, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 01:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17572085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ticklishraspberries/pseuds/ticklishraspberries
Summary: Spencer has a hypothesis that Derek Morgan is ticklish. As a man of science, he’ll have to perform an experiment to find out, right?





	Hypothesis

Derek Morgan was tough. It was no secret; one look at him told you he could certainly take down a grown man with his bare hands. His team got to see the lesser known side of him, the soft and sweet side with big smiles, but also sadness and vulnerability and tears.

Spencer didn’t like seeing Derek sad. In such an emotionally-taxing job, it wasn’t a rare sight, much to Spencer’s dismay. But it made the moments he saw him smile or laugh ten million times better.

Though there was some possibly new, interesting information that had piqued Spencer’s interest.

Spencer had been innocently trying to get Derek’s attention on the plane. The older man had earbuds in and his eyes closed, and Spencer had reached out to poke him, resulting in Derek jumping nearly out of his seat.

And that wasn’t the only time. Slight brushing of an elbow against his side, or Garcia’s long nails dragging against his neck playfully, Derek was always holding back some greater reaction than the annoyance he showed.

And that was when Spencer formed the question: was Derek Morgan ticklish?

In true scientist fashion, he decided to test the theory.

The team was spending a night at Rossi’s, a week of hard cases leaving them all needing some fun down-time with friends. The others were in the kitchen, helping Rossi cook, but they’d kicked Derek and Spencer out because they were more of a hindrance than a help. The two of them sat on the couch, a comfortable silence between them as they listened to the chatter from the others, and that was when Spencer decided to go about testing his hypothesis.

He didn’t go about it very professionally. He didn’t have a set experiment, a control group, he didn’t run multiple tests to make sure his data was accurate.

What he did do was pounce on Derek, making him start to laugh that rare, beautiful laugh that Spencer longed to hear more often.

And now he’d discovered exactly how to do that.

“What the hell, kid?” Derek managed to say between uncharacteristically free laughter, and it made Spencer giggle along with him, because it was just too cute.

However, Spencer didn’t realize the fault in his experiment. Derek might have proved to be very ticklish, but Spencer was a million times worse, and significantly weaker.

It didn’t long until the tables were turned, fingers finding Spencer’s sides and turning him into a twitchy, giggly mess on Rossi’s couch.

Emily’s head peeked out from the kitchen, a wide grin on her face as she watched the scene unfold, until JJ, Hotch, and Rossi all joined her, watching their two friends laugh without realizing their presence.

Well, until Emily couldn’t hold back a comment. “As much as I love Reid’s laugh, I think you’re gonna kill him.”

Derek grinned, but let up anyway, backing off to let the younger agent catch his breath, pushing his long hair out of his blushing face.

The rest of the team, smiling and shaking their heads fondly, disappeared again.

“I know your secret now,” Spencer said, still a little smug at discovering it.

“And if you ever tell any of them,” Derek said, gesturing to the kitchen, “I’ll actually tickle you to death. Okay kid?”

Spencer’s face was turning red again at the threat, and he nodded frantically.

Derek laughed, putting a hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Wanna go bother them in the kitchen?”

“Absolutely.”

Derek was tough, sure. But he was also adorable and sweet, when caught in the right moment. Oh, and ticklish, which Spencer still couldn’t get over. He took Derek’s threat to heart though.

Besides, it was nice to know something the others didn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!  
> Feedback is always appreciated!  
> Tumblr: ticklishraspberries.tumblr.com  
> Please consider donating to my ko-fi which is linked on my tumblr!


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